Printing can get very expensive, so I bought the Brother HL5150D(duplex printer, prints both sides) which is recommended by Robinson Homeschool . I got a good deal for a refurbished model online from Office Depot two years ago. Robinson Homeschool curriculum is vintage books all on cd's, and they require quite a bit of printing, so I thought they would have good recommendations for low cost copies.

The Brother HL5150D is a laser printer which runs less expensive copies than ink jets. It got excellent reviews across the net, especially at PriceGrabber.com. This site which sells the replacement laser toner cartridges reports that the printing cost per page is .011 cents! A very good price for copies, especially two sided copies which would run you half that amount per page, about .0055 cents per page.

You can always bind the books yourself. Here are some home book binding helps:

Book binding tutorial Skip to step 3 if you are making your own copies. This looks very labor intensive, but you might pick up a few helpful tips even if you don't make a book from scratch.

Office Depot charges .08 cents a copy, so I won't be asking them to copy a book for me. They will do a nice comb binding for $2.39. You can punch holes in pages and use brads, but a comb binding makes turning pages so much easier. I plan to try this with a few books soon. I'll post when I do.

Another idea would be to punch holes in a book and place it into a ring binder. This would be especially good for books which you plan to just use for school, rather than reading books you plan to keep in your library.

"Although this little book, and its fellow, "ROLLO AT WORK," are intended principally as a means of entertainment for their little readers, it is hoped by the writer that they may aid in accomplishing some of the following useful purposes:—1. In cultivating the thinking powers; as frequent occasions occur, in which the incidents of the narrative, and the conversations arising from them, are intended to awaken and engage the reasoning and reflective faculties of the little readers.2. In promoting the progress of children in reading and in knowledge of language; for the diction of the stories is intended to be often in advance of the natural language of the reader, and yet so used as to be explained by the connection.3. In cultivating the amiable and gentle qualities of the heart. The scenes are laid in quiet and virtuous life, and the character and conduct described are generally—with the exception of some of the ordinary exhibitions of childish folly—character and conduct to be imitated; for it is generally better, in dealing with children, to allure them to what is right by agreeable pictures of it, than to attempt to drive them to it by repulsive delineations of what is wrong."

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

According to the Introduction, this primer is both a penmanship and beginning reader. For modern day purposes, all but the first few sections is advanced for first grade, and could easily be used a section at a time from grades one through three.

I found this at 19th Century Books, part of University of Pittsburgh Digital Library System. It's quite a thorough and professional drawing course. The first section is just learning lines, and if you skip to the next section on rudimentary drawing, you'll see why you need to master this.

"Mary Louisa Molesworth typified late Victorian writing for girls. Aimed at girls too old for fairies and princesses but too young for Austen and the Brontës, books by Molesworth had their share of amusement, but they also had a good deal of moral instruction. The girls reading Molesworth would grow up to be mothers; thus, the books emphasized Victorian notions of duty and self-sacrifice."

Monday, July 16, 2007

Project Gutenberg's texts are very easy to save, just download the zip file, or go to the HTML or plain text. Once the text loads, right click, select all and save to your computer. This can take up a lot of space on your computer. As mentioned here, you can save it to a flash drive, or use Google Documents to store it online, and/or convert to another file type.

Google documents allows you to upload the Project Gutenberg text with just the url. Then you can amend it for personal use, like edit out extra print, and save it as a zipped HTML, RTF, pdf, Open Office, Word or plain text. You save the text to these different file type by clicking on "file" in the edit mode of your saved documents at Google Documents.

The only negative aspect of doing this is that the pictures do not load, so you'd have to add them back if you upload non-plain text. In this case, it would be easier to download the zip file text off Project Gutenberg, or just have a large file of the HTML stored.

Another helpful Google Documents function under "file" in edit mode is Word Count. This analyzes the documents word count and readability level. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it will give the grade level. You can analyze children's vintage texts with Word Count if you are curious about the reading level.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

I'm having a bit of fun making copy work pages with vintage illustrations. These are free to share and print for personal use. Please give me a link back if you post these on the net. I'll do the entire alphabet as I find pictures.

Printing tips: I suggest that you click "print preview" on your computer before you print, and change the setting to "portrait" for best results. Also, you may have to change the print settings. Most are fine at 100% - lines at margins will be even upon printing.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Published in 1855 by the American Sunday School Union in Eastern Pennsylvania. Moral tales and character education. "No books are published by the American Sunday-School Union without the sanction of the Committee of Publication, consisting of fourteen members, from the following denominations of Christians, viz. Baptist, Methodist, Congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed Dutch. Not more than three of the members can be of the same denomination, and no book can be published to which any member of the Committee shall object."

This book reminds of the Pathway Mennonite readers. Good wholesome teaching stories; however this one also has discussions. There is one story for boys which discusses how to be a gentleman by following the example of George Washington. They just don't make books like this anymore.

"A FEW WORDS TO THE TEACHER.When Little Mary (or any other little girl or boy) knows all the letters perfectly, let the teacher turn over a page and pronounce one of the mono-syllables. Do not say a, m, am—but say am at once, and point to the word. When the child knows that word, then point to the next, and say as, and be sure to follow the same plan throughout the book. Spelling lessons may be taught at a more advanced age; but it will be found that a young child will learn to read much more quickly if they be dispensed with in the Primer. In words of more than one syllable, it is best to pronounce each syllable separately, car, pet,—po, ker,—and so on. In the lesson on "Things in the Room," point out each thing as the child reads the word, and indeed, wherever you can, try to associate the word with its actual meaning. Show a child the word coach as a coach goes past, and she will recollect that word again for ever. In the "Lesson on the Senses," make the child understand how to feel cold and heat, by touching a piece of cold iron or marble, and by holding the hand to the fire,—how to smell, to hear, to see, and to taste. In the "Lesson on Colours," be sure to show each colour as it is read; and endeavour to make every Lesson as interesting as you can. Never weary a child with long lessons. The little poem at the end is intended to be read to the child frequently, that she may gradually learn it by heart. " ~ Aunt Mary's Primer, published in 1851.

Note: Don't hold child's hand to fire(which means near)! This is an old book(pre-electricity), and safety meant something different back then. I'm sure most people know this, but since it's quoted here I feel obliged to mention this.

The Forest of SwordsA Story of Paris and the Marne (English) The Forest RunnersA Story of the Great War Trail in Early Kentucky (English) The Free RangersA Story of the Early Days Along the Mississippi (English) The Guns of Bull Run A story of the civil war's eve (English) The Guns of Shiloh A Story of the Great Western Campaign (English) The Hosts of the Air (English) The Hunters of the Hills (English) The Lords of the WildA Story of the Old New York Border (English) The Masters of the PeaksA Story of the Great North Woods (English) The Rock of Chickamauga A Story of the Western Crisis (English) The Rulers of the LakesA Story of George and Champlain (English) The Scouts of Stonewall The Story of the Great Valley Campaign (English) The Scouts of the Valley (English) The Shades of the Wilderness A Story of Lee's Great Stand (English) The Shadow of the NorthA Story of Old New York and a Lost Campaign (English) The Star of Gettysburg A Story of Southern High Tide (English) The Sun Of QuebecA Story of a Great Crisis (English) The Sword of Antietam A Story of the Nation's Crisis (English) The Texan ScoutsA Story of the Alamo and Goliad (English) The Texan StarThe Story of a Great Fight for Liberty (English) The Tree of Appomattox (English) The Young TrailersA Story of Early Kentucky (English)

Under Joseph Alexander:Before the DawnA Story of the Fall of Richmond (English)

"Appealing to children because of its association with their favorite heroine, and to their parents because of its high moral tone and the beauty of its lines, the play has found great favor among children's clubs for their private theatricals, in many cases rivalling the success of the "Little Colonel" and her friends in obtaining funds for charitable purposes. "

Sources Of Free Books

All books are in public domain, unless indicated.

Google Book Search books are printable if switched to plain text, or page by page by right clicking on image of page(HTML mode only). *Switch to HTML(bottom of main Google Books Menu page) . **Click on the download button at link(upper right on sidebar) to download entire text in PDF.

*(10/10)This has been disabled. Hopefully the HTML button will come back. Books listed here are still linked in HTML. I have been able to change the end of the web address by hand from Text to HTML.

**(12/10)Google Books removed the PDF download button on the overview "About" book pages! To access a download, click on any page of the book to find the PDF download button in the upper right corner.

Internet Archives indexes several free book resources, has an excellent search engine, fully printable books, and an online flip-book reader with an audio reader. Readable online as plain text or as HTML(like a regular web page).

Rosetta Project groups vintage illustrated children's books by reading level, easy to read format, and has an audio reader. Not in public domain per their format. Read only, books downloadable for small fee.